1. Field of the Invention
A conjugate of a metal nanoparticle and a light emitting material, and a use thereof, are disclosed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Resonance of absorbing light at a specific wavelength and have a large extinction coefficient (about 105 cm−1M−1). Accordingly, when the metal nanoparticles are used as an energy transfer acceptor, the sensor including the metal nanoparticles may have sensitivity at a monomolecular level and also an improved transfer-energy rate and increased working distance.
In addition, metal particles have additional merits of being stable and not being photobleached.
On the other hand, a disease may be diagnosed early by detecting a biomarker related to the disease such as genes, proteins, enzymes, antigens, antibodies, and the like at a low concentration existing in a biological sample such as bloods, saliva, or the like. Accordingly, the detection needs a very sensitive biosensor.
A conventional method of detecting genes, proteins, enzymes, antigens, antibodies, and the like in a biological sample may include gel electrophoresis, multistep liquid chromatography, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), or a method of measuring a peak shift through spectroscopy by binding a phosphor with a peptide substrate specifically degraded in a protein degrading enzyme. However, these methods need multistep protocols and thus are not economically and timely efficient for screening many drugs to develop a new medicine. In addition, these methods may not be used for early diagnosis of a disease by detecting expression of a specific biomarker in vivo or quantitatively measuring the amount of the expression.
Accordingly, a more sensitive biosensor capable of detecting expression of a specific biomarker in vivo and quantitatively analyzing the amount of the expression is required.